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Judy and I drove over to the beach today… and what a day it was! We had a beautiful walk on the beach. I worked Bulgaria, France, Italy, TN and GA with a wire that was only three feet off the ground!

We brought our bikes and after a picnic lunch we rode a few miles up the road and back along the shore. Judy picked rose hips (rich in vitamin C) from the wild Rosa Rugosa along the way. It was in the low 80s F with just a little breeze. After that we sat on some benches in front of Rye Harbor. Judy lay down in the sun, and I strung a wire from the bench to a low bush that was 40 feet behind us. At most the wire was only 3 feet above the ground. I’d brought the kite, but there wasn’t enough wind to fly it. So I used what was available.

I had brought the KX3 and tuned around 20 meters and heard a couple of strong stations… the first one was W1AW/4 in TN. What the heck, I thought… I’ll give it a try. I got an answer on the first call and completed the exchange. Whooppee! TN on a 30 foot wire 3 feet off the ground. Next I worked Tony W4FOA in Georgia. He also gave me a 599. Now I was feeling pretty confident and went down the band for some DX. IK1ZNL, Paolo in Italy was 579. He answered my call and gave me a 559. Yikes… DX with a low wire. Then I worked LZ37MP in Bulgaria. I was working DX with the nicest view in the world…. Rye Harbor.

I thought I’d see what 30 meters was like. The Europeans were working each other all over the band, and they were strong! So I called a few… but no luck. I was hearing them, but their local signals were much stronger than I was. Anyway, I worked Chris F8DGY in France on 30 and completed the exchange, but clearly he wasn’t hearing me very well. But what the heck… I simply couldn’t ask for more. A perfect day, a beautiful beach and some DX by the sea.

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